Yes, It’s Still More Affordable to Buy Than Rent

In about two-thirds of the country – or 66 percent of the largest U.S. counties – it’s more affordable to buy a home than to rent one, according to a report by ATTOM Data Solutions.
They compared the monthly rents of three-bedroom apartments to monthly payments on median-priced homes (including the mortgages, property taxes, and insurance) across 540 counties.
Read more: Housing Markets Move More Into Buy Zone
“It feels like buying a home is getting tougher and tougher from an affordability standpoint,” says Daren Blomquist, ATTOM’s senior vice president. “But the low interest rates have really helped.”
Mortgage rates, however, are expected to rise in the near future. That could dampen the affordability prospects in the future.
“Even a fairly slight increase in mortgage rates could flip the equation and make it more affordable to rent than to buy,” Blomquist says.
According to the report, rents have been surging faster than home prices in about 27 percent of the markets measured.
In the country’s most populated counties, the following places topped the list as most affordable to buy than rent: Cook County (Chicago), Ill.; Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona, Miami-Dade County, Fla.; San Bernardino County, Cal. in inland Southern California; Clark County (Las Vegas), Nev.; Tarrant County, Texas in the Dallas metro area; Wayne County (Detroit), Mich.; Broward County, Fla. in the Miami metro area; Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas; and Philadelphia County, Pa.